


Snapshots and Sidequests

by CrystalLifestream (AlleyCatSunflower)



Series: Cataclysm [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Companion Piece, Crossover, Deleted Scenes, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2020-11-27 20:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyCatSunflower/pseuds/CrystalLifestream
Summary: A series of short companion oneshots taking place throughout my ficCataclysm: Initiation, which provides all necessary context (so you'll most likely be confused and/or spoiler'd if you don't read that one first). It consists primarily of content I originally planned to include in the story itself, but had to cut due to POV and/or word count constraints.Like its source fic, this is a crossover AU, mostly FFXV-centric but containing characters and certain story elements from FFVII. It's rated T for now due to potential swearing, but this is subject to change, as are the characters and pairings.





	1. Ladies and Gentlemen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Prompto recounts a story Aerith would rather stay in the past, impressing Zack and Cloud in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place in the middle of Chapter 14.

The first time Aerith stayed too late at Zack and Cloud's was not the last.

Aerith didn't spend the night this time, either, though this time it was more because she wanted to stay a little too much than because she didn't want to stay at all. In celebration of Zack getting an official Lucian ID, he had used it to buy a bottle of champagne, of which all four of them—he, Cloud, Prompto, and Aerith—had partaken. And Aerith tended to get more bubbly the more bubbly she'd had.

It wasn't a lot. None of them could be classified as drunk, with only one bottle between the four of them, especially since they all seemed to have fairly high tolerances. But she still found herself a little too comfortable in this place, with these ex-strangers she was beginning to like more and more, and beneath her relaxation lay an undercurrent of worry that if she spent the night now, she'd never want to leave. It would be better to get out while the getting was good.

"You gonna get the Turks to pay for another cab?" asked Cloud, frowning, once their roundabout _oh-it's-midnight-again_ conversation had run its course.

Aerith shook her head. "I'll get Ignis to pick me up," she said, ignoring Prompto's clear incredulity, and took out her phone. "I've learned some tricks by now. They don't make him like me much, but they're enough to get the job done."

"Do tell," said Zack, leaning forward.

"He knows the buses have stopped by now, and the streets around here can be dangerous at this hour," said Aerith vaguely, concentrating on her clunky keyboard. (She hadn't considered it often before now, but playing around on Zack's phone now and again—still with its hot pink case—made her think that maybe she should get an upgrade after all.) "Ignis won't _like_ it, but he's a gentleman, and he's reliable. I'll get a tongue-lashing for the trouble, but I'll get my ride home."

"Wow," said Cloud, blinking a few times, and Aerith felt a rush of relief that neither he nor Zack protested her leaving this time. "You've done that before?"

Aerith pocketed her phone with another shake of her head. "Only a couple times. If I did it too often, he might not help me out anymore, and I do have _some_ pride. I can't let him think I'm just another damsel in distress."

"Because you're really not," put in Prompto, nudging Aerith, then addressed Zack and Cloud. "She never trained in any kind of weapon, but you can't hang out with Gladio and Iris for that many years without learning a thing or two about combat. Besides that, she's always had quick reflexes and a sixth sense for danger." He chuckled. "Think I still have a scar on my hand from when we were arm-wrestling that one time. I won, but she dug in her fingernails, so…"

Aerith gave Prompto a shove. "That was ten years ago! Stop trying to scare them away." She wasn't averse to putting the fear of the gods into people herself, but she preferred to keep her capabilities under wraps until she could use them for shock value. Besides that, she cared about Zack and Cloud, and wanted to make a good impression. That involved making them respect her as a person _before_ they came to fear her.

Prompto grinned in a way that meant he already knew her misgivings; he was just doing it anyway. "Hey, I thought you _wanted_ people to know you can take care of yourself. Which you can. When I said Zack was your boyfriend last month so we could meet up with the guys, Iggy was worried about you, so Gladio had to remind him about the time you kicked a guy down the stairs at school."

"Damn," said Cloud, blinking a few times, and looked at Aerith with something like respect alongside the surprise. "What'd he do?"

Aerith gave a noise a little bit like a growl in the back of her throat, wringing her hands as she debated cutting this conversation short, but finally surrendered. "I'd rejected him, because I knew he was just asking me out so he could meet the prince. He wasn't the nicest guy, either, so I wouldn't have said yes even if he'd really liked me. But anyway, he started chasing me, so I turned around and kicked him when he grabbed me. If I hadn't fought back, I'd have been the one with a broken arm."

"I think I still have the picture," said Prompto, taking out his phone.

"You were _there_?" asked Cloud, staring at him in apparent awe.

"Yeah, Aerith asked me to follow them because she didn't trust the guy," said Prompto, flicking through his extensive image gallery. "And she was right, like always. I followed them and took a picture so she could claim self-defense, since pushing a guy down some stairs could've gotten her in a lot of trouble otherwise. Then I called an ambulance, and that was that. He hasn't spoken to her since."

"You're a better man than me, Prompto," said Zack, shaking his head. "I'd have let him lie." Maybe the conviction in his tone was exaggerated from tipsiness, but it still made Aerith feel warm inside to know he'd have taken her side so thoroughly.

"Only reason I didn't was 'cause I didn't wanna get in trouble, either," said Prompto, starting as his phone buzzed in his hand. "Oh—looks like Iggy's on his way." Ignis always preferred texting Prompto rather than Aerith whenever he knew the two of them were together, possibly because he could actually respond at a moment's notice.

Aerith tried to crush the strange sense of disappointment at Prompto's words. She hadn't realized it until now, but she had half been hoping that Ignis would say he was busy and couldn't get her, give her an excuse to stay after all. But it was probably better this way for now, she thought, and smiled. Maybe next time, she really would stay forever. "Good."


	2. Blame It On the Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Aerith throws an unsuspecting Cloud to a wolf named Zack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place toward the end of Chapter 14.

Despite Prompto's love of Halloween, he had to admit that Yuletide was much more festive this year.

For one thing, the Turks were under control, thanks to Elmyra and her need for kitchen assistants. Prompto had been astonished that she'd managed to pick up on their increasingly less obvious presence, but it didn't come as half the surprise to Reno and Rude. _Can't follow the same subject for this long without _someone_ finding out_, Reno had said. _But technically, we are working for the Lucian government at the moment, so she's not legally allowed to stop us._

That said, Elmyra was, evidently, legally allowed to press them into service working for her. That must have been where Aerith got her half-persuasive, half-coercive tendency to get people to do what she wanted.

Celebrations at the Gainsborough household were rarely formal, but Yule was just enough of a special occasion that everyone had put slightly more effort into their appearances. That included Aerith, who was wearing a somewhat shorter and redder dress than usual, and it had taken Noct and Gladio a solid quarter of an hour to stop teasing her about how she 'had legs'. Especially since Zack had seemed a little distracted by said legs ever since he and Cloud had walked in.

But he wasn't the only distracted one. Aerith had been a little scattered all day, which probably meant she was working something out in the back of her mind, but this was neither the time nor place to bring it up. And besides, she didn't seem especially troubled, just thoughtful. She was clearly in a good enough mood to smile and laugh at the others' antics; she just wasn't as talkative as usual, and her responses were somewhat vague and less detailed than they could have been. Prompto found himself filling in most of the gaps she left, but as long as she wasn't worrying about something, he didn't mind.

She didn't carry much of the conversation at dinner, either, mostly leaving the guys to socialize and her mother to fuss and fawn over them the way she always did—Zack and Cloud included. Elmyra had practically adopted them, maybe because she was convinced Aerith was going to marry one of them someday. It might also have had something to do with the fact that Zack had not only volunteered to fix up that squeaky old shower, but had actually followed through. As opposed to the Turks, she clarified pointedly, who wasted all their time sneaking around. Reno looked offended and Rude looked almost hurt, but to Prompto's immense amusement, neither of them dared raise protests.

Normally, Prompto and the other non-cooks played rock-paper-scissors over who had to clear the dishes, who had to wash them, and all that good stuff. However, this time Elmyra insisted that the Turks do all the work, so that freed up everyone else to head back to the living room. Such as it was, anyway; the Gainsboroughs' living room was very small for seven people. All the more so since half of it was taken up by a tree, and the rest of it by merrymaking, Noct and Gladio leading the charge. Even Ignis was in better spirits than usual, but that might have been because of the wine.

To Prompto's surprise, rather than join their lively conversation—something about the difference between Crownsguard and Kingsglaive duties, along with a lot of would-you-rathers—Zack stationed himself in the doorway with crossed arms, keeping an eye on the Turks and the supervising Elmyra from a distance. Similarly unsociable, Aerith settled onto the couch with Pryna at her feet and took up her amateur mending. (Her new year's resolution, which she had decided to start a little early, was to start helping her mother out more, and that meant learning more about sewing.)

Having little knowledge of whatever it was the others were discussing, Prompto leaned on the back of the couch to observe Aerith's work and was about to ask whether they were going to sing carols later, but then noticed Cloud watching Aerith out the corner of his eye. That disarmed him, since he expected Zack to be her most prominent admirer, but he couldn't exactly blame him. Whether or not she chose to admit it, she had dressed to be admired, so if Zack wasn't looking at her, someone else definitely should.

"Hey, Cloud," said Aerith, glancing up from her work, and Cloud practically jumped. Prompto was just as startled. She hadn't started many conversations like this since the start of the evening. Especially not to ignore someone right next to her, he added to himself, half resentful. "I think I left my champagne in the other room. Could you get it for me?"

"S-sure," said Cloud, already moving by the time she said it. Not that he ever said no to Aerith, but if Prompto had to guess, this time he was more interested in doing as she asked because he needed something to do with himself than anything else. Even if it was just because he was eager to please, Prompto had learned by now that Cloud didn't admit his motivation any more easily than Ignis.

In either case, if Cloud were worried about Aerith having caught him looking at her, he soon had bigger problems on his plate, because Zack, leaning in the doorframe to the dining room, cleared his throat aggressively as Cloud passed. "And just where do you think you're going?"

"Getting Aerith's drink," said Cloud, nonplussed, but halted uncertainly all the same.

Zack pointed upward, and Prompto remembered with a jolt the Gainsboroughs' habit of hanging mistletoe in that particular doorway. It had been the reason that his first kiss, at the tender age of seven, had been with Aerith, and his face must have looked exactly how Cloud's looked now. He must not have noticed it at all, judging by the shock mingling with his understanding (and by his deepening blush). "Gotta pay toll first."  
  
"Uh," said Cloud, his voice almost cracking in his panic. "Does it have to be on the lips?"

Zack turned his head to look over at the rest of the crowd, and Prompto followed his gaze. He hadn't noticed that the conversation had stopped, but evidently, Cloud's movement had caught Noct's attention, even though he was trying not to seem too interested. Ignis was determinedly rearranging one of the garlands on the tree, but Gladio was failing miserably at suppressing a grin. Aerith, meanwhile, was smiling enigmatically in a way that suggested she had specifically sent Cloud in her stead, and Prompto realized that maybe not all of her thoughts were harmless after all.

Rather than answer Cloud's question, Zack turned his eyes back to him with a faint hum, tilting his chin up with a few fingers—Prompto caught sight of something very like fear flaring in Cloud's eyes, and was surprised he didn't shove him away, mistletoe be damned—and then leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead.  
  
As he did so, everyone seemed to relax again, including Cloud, who let out a probably-unintentional, very sharp sigh as though he had been holding his breath. He muttered something Prompto couldn't hear, slipping past Zack to get Aerith's champagne, and added more audibly on his way back, "I hate you."

Zack just shrugged, unperturbed. "What can I say? I'm a born showman." But his ears were pinker than Prompto had ever seen them, and he didn't insist on a second display of affection as Cloud passed him again. Prompto had no idea how Zack would look at any of them again, but as it turned out, he didn't have to. A distraction came almost immediately in the form of a clatter of dishes and a curse from Reno followed by a stream of frantic apologies, and Zack took off in the direction of the kitchen to sort out the scuffle. (The others, meanwhile, picked up their conversation again, some more easily than others.)

Cloud's hold on the flute stem was not a steady one, but he returned with it as promised. However, as he proffered it, Aerith took one look at it, and his inability to so much as meet her eyes, and shook her head. "Thanks, but you need it more than I do."

Though Cloud's expression was such that he might have been considering strangling Aerith, he instead sank down on the couch next to her, still trembling. "Hey," said Prompto, resting a reassuring hand on Cloud's shoulder. He tensed at first, but quickly relaxed again, downing the entire glass of champagne in a few gulps, and Prompto winced. "Could've been worse." Much, much worse. For all he knew, that could have turned into Cloud's very first, only dubiously consensual kiss. 

"I know," said Cloud darkly, scowling in the direction Zack had vanished, but Prompto couldn't help but think his body language was a little soft around the edges. "He's always been like that, pushing every limit he can find. You'll see," he added, looking back over at Aerith again. "He'll wait for you in every doorway till he can try it on you too. Whether there's mistletoe or not."

Aerith just smiled, as mysterious as always. "Oh, I hope he does," was all she said, keeping her eyes on her sewing. But nothing either Cloud or Prompto could say, from demands to pleas, would entice her to say more.


	3. Of Visitors and Trespassers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Aerith realizes that Tseng is exactly as unflappable as he seems, for better or for worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place shortly after Chapter 19.

It was so hard for Aerith to grasp that less than a month ago, she had been talking and laughing with friends in her own home. Now, she was going to have to stay in Tseng's apartment.

Not that his apartment wasn't nice, or anything. It was surprisingly spacious and nicer than Zack and Cloud's place, if a step or two down from Noct's. It was more that Aerith preferred good company to good surroundings, and Tseng hadn't given her much of a reason to trust him. Apart from generously taking her shopping before bringing her to his place, which was nice of him, because she was tired of being stuck in her nightgown.

As soon as Aerith stepped inside, she looked around the place, expecting Tseng to lead her somewhere immediately. Instead, he let Aerith explore, which surprised her… until she realized that all the doors in the apartment were locked except the one that led to the bathroom. Of what she _could _see of the place, it was almost too immaculate. "Have you ever had guests before?"

Tseng glanced back at her. "Not the welcome kind."

"It shows." Tseng, or perhaps a decorator, had placed a few works of art here and there to break up the effect of the plain and sparse furniture, to great effect. The pieces he chose were beautiful, inspired by Wutaian art (one piece appeared to be a legitimate calligraphed scroll), but… "It doesn't even look like _you_ live here." More like a fancy hotel suite, not that Aerith had ever been in one herself.

To Aerith's surprise, Tseng gave the ghost of a smile. "If you saw my office, you'd think differently."

Aerith pursed her lips, restraining her curiosity with difficulty. His office at home must be much messier than his office at work, but she knew better than to think she'd be allowed to so much as peek in at it. That was too bad. Seeing that even someone like Tseng could be disorganized at times might have helped her see the Turks as something closer to human.

That, of course, reminded her all the more of her missing friends. She hoped she wouldn't have to stay here long, that she could escape or be rescued within a reasonable span of time, but she did need to know where she could rest her head. Maybe it was the time difference between Niflheim and Lucis, but she was exhausted. It turned out that being suffocated into unconsciousness didn't really count toward feeling well-rested. "Where am I going to sleep?"

"The spare bedroom," said Tseng promptly, leading the way, and opened the door. "After you."

Aerith turned on the light and walked in somewhat cautiously. The place was as neat as the rest of the house, except for a pair of formal shoes at the foot of the bed, and she raised her eyes to find a human-shaped lump under the blankets. Backing up in a hurry, Aerith slipped past Tseng again, hugging her arms to herself as she hung back out in the hallway. "Someone's already in there."

Though Aerith expected Tseng to be as alarmed as she was, he just sighed and glanced the slightest bit skyward. "Reno," he said, striding into the room, and Aerith's heart skipped a beat before she scurried after him again. This was going to be good. "Get out."

Reno sat up and yawned, stretching. "Aw, and I was _just _about to drift off, too. Damn." He slid out of bed to stand up and seemed to catch sight of Aerith as he did so, smiling at her as she glowered in his direction. "Unless I'm dreaming. There's no way you're letting the flower girl crash with you, right, boss?"

Tseng glared at Reno, not answering his question. "I must've told you a hundred times not to practice lock-picking on _my_ locks."

"How else am I going to stay sharp?" asked Reno, evidently unconcerned with Tseng's disapproval. That was a little unusual, considering that he'd called him 'boss', but it made sense considering his personality. He didn't strike Aerith as the kind of person to care much about authority, no matter the consequences. "Nobody else ever bothers changing them."

"Sooner or later, your little hobby is going to cause a major security breach," said Tseng coldly. "And when that happens, I'll be more than happy to carry out the order to assassinate you. Personally."

"Come on, don't be like that," said Reno, as breezily as though Tseng hadn't just threatened him with death. Turks certainly did have an odd idea of friendship, even by Aerith's unconventional standards. "I did such a great job of covering it up that even _you_ didn't notice anything was wrong. Shouldn't you be giving me a raise or something?"

Tseng heaved a sigh. "You are singlehandedly responsible for giving the Turks a bad name," he muttered, hiding his face momentarily in his hand before looking up again. "You are next in the chain of command. The least you could do is act like it."

Reno, like the professional he apparently was, just stuck out his tongue in response.

Aerith stared between the two of them. She could definitely understand Tseng as a leader, but was _Reno_ really in a position to take over someday? Not that she was too worried about the Turks, considering everything they'd done to her and her friends so far, but it struck her as an incredibly unwise decision to let someone like him take over. Especially since Tseng was so clean-cut by contrast.

"So you're really rooming with Tseng now, huh?"

Only as Reno spoke did Aerith realize that he was watching her carefully, and that her doubts were probably clearly visible on her face. She delayed answering as long as she could, not wanting to admit it even to herself, but had no choice. "Yeah."

Reno grinned. Something about his expression felt sadistic, but Aerith couldn't tell whether it was more at her expense or Tseng's. "You'll have to excuse the stick up his ass. He doesn't know the first thing about how to treat a lady."

Aerith raised her eyebrows—Reno was one to talk, given that he didn't know the first thing about how to treat people in general—but Tseng was the one to speak, narrowing his eyes. "Did you come here just to insult me in front of a guest?"

"Well, I _was_ here to take a nap," said Reno, with an air of thinking aloud, but the sly look he shot at Tseng out the corner of his eye and the smirk tugging at his lips counterbalanced his casual tone. "Then you woke me up right when I was about to get some shuteye, and the plan changed." He tilted his head, grinning outright now. "You're not all sour just 'cause I'm saying what she's thinking, are you?"

Tseng did not take the bait. (Aerith got the feeling he'd gotten used to this long ago.) "I told you to leave."

"I'll take that as a yes," said Reno, stepping into his shoes, and Aerith moved aside to give him more room to walk out the door. The farther away she was from him, the happier she would be, but… at the same time, she couldn't suppress a nagging thought that maybe she should ask after her friends. "Nice seeing you, flower girl."

"Wait."

Aerith didn't even expect herself to speak, but the word left her mouth before she could stop it. Tseng looked at Aerith in something vaguely resembling surprise, and Reno paused, leaning against the doorframe. "Mixed messages, much? I figured you'd want me out of your hair, the sooner, the better."

"I do," said Aerith with conviction, crossing her arms. "But first, I want to know something. Have you heard anything from my friends?"

Reno smiled. "Many times."

Aerith scowled. "I mean, _since_ you and Rude kidnapped me." Obviously they'd both brought her to Niflheim, but she'd be willing to bet that not all the Turks' surveillance relied on personally being there to listen in. There was no guarantee he'd tell the truth, but if the way fiction handled villains and evil plans had any basis in fact, people who thought they'd already won were more likely to take that risk.

Reno pursed his lips. "Well, we both got on that helicopter to Niflheim right after we dragged your sorry ass onto it, so… no, I haven't." He ran his hand through his hair. "But if you're asking if I know anything about what they're planning…" Reno trailed off, and Aerith tried not to show how invested she was in his answer, but she'd always been terrible at hiding things like that. Judging by Reno's smirk as he kept her in suspense, she hadn't gotten any better at it. "Still no."

If Aerith could punch him with no repercussions, she would. She clenched her fists, but the most she dared to do was scowl. "Thanks for nothing, Reno."

"No problem," said Reno, saluting. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Reno vanished around the corner, but his footsteps halted at the sound of another, quieter voice. "There you are." That was… _Rude_. Ice flooded Aerith's veins, and her hand went to her neck automatically as her body recalled the way he had practically strangled her. "You're supposed to cover for me while I'm on break, remember? You owe me the fifteen minutes I spent trying to find you."

"Oh, shit!" exclaimed Reno. "Sorry, partner. I'll get right on that." His footsteps retreated again, in even more of a hurry this time, the sound cut off when the front door closed behind him. Aerith just blinked. That was possibly the only time she had ever heard Reno apologize. 

She was stirred abruptly out of her thoughts as Rude made his appearance in the doorway. He looked at Tseng as if about to say something, but hesitated, his eyes snagging on Aerith. She took an instinctive step back, even though his voice was gentle: "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks," said Aerith stiffly. There was some regret in what she could see of Rude's expression, but that didn't make it much easier for her to forgive him in the moment. He was undoubtedly acting on orders from the top, whatever that meant, but he hadn't even tried to defy them. As a result, Aerith was very far away from all her friends and family with no guarantee of ever returning.

Rude inclined his head. "I'm glad to hear it," he said, seeming genuinely relieved, and turned to Tseng. "Sorry for dropping by unannounced."

"For once, it's no trouble," said Tseng, giving a smile Aerith couldn't help but think looked weary. For the first time, she fully understood why he'd said that looking after her would not be difficult. Aerith's eccentricity was nothing to the other Turks', and Tseng was somehow supposed to be in charge of these people. "Your intervention was… helpful."

Rude's only response was another nod before he withdrew without another word, casting one glance back at Aerith on his way out.

Only after she heard the front door open and close again did Aerith remember to breathe, and when she did, she caught a whiff of Reno's cologne. It didn't smell bad, exactly, but it had… negative connotations. Aerith looked over at Tseng to find him looking her way, wondering how long he'd been watching her, but she was too tired to really care. "Can I just… sleep on the couch?"

Tseng nodded, evidently unsurprised. "I should have a sleeping bag somewhere," he said, turning to open the closet and start looking around, but glanced over his shoulder. "Do you need some dinner first?"

Aerith raised her eyebrows. She didn't feel very hungry, but… come to think of it, she hadn't had a meal since waking up in Niflheim. She should probably eat _something_. "Do you cook?"

Still half inside the closet, Tseng made a faint noise Aerith only belatedly recognized was a chuckle. "No." Straightening up with the sleeping bag under one arm, he shut the door. "But there are a number of restaurants in this part of town. How does Wutaian food sound to you?"

"Great," said Aerith truthfully, because a rice- and noodle-based meal sure sounded like a good idea—nice and light and fairly easy on the stomach. But if Tseng was buying, then… "I'll have plain white rice and the most expensive rolls on the menu, please." There was no real need to conceal the fact that she intended to use as much of his money as possible. As far as Aerith was concerned, she certainly had the right.

To her surprise, Tseng just smiled, leading the way out of the room, and there was even a note of patronizing laughter in his voice as he said, "Understood."

Tseng's lack of annoyance was almost enough to make Aerith reconsider her request, since apparently it wasn't going to get under his skin and she probably wasn't going to eat many of those rolls anyway, but… she couldn't just back down now. If she was going to be forced to live with a Turk, then she was going to make the most of his resources, and Tseng himself couldn't stop her. There was no reason she should hold back under these circumstances, right?

(Wrong. Aerith only realized why exactly Tseng had been so amused when the most expensive rolls on the menu turned out to be so spicy that she couldn't even choke down one of them, whereas his favorite dish was just as hot. It seemed Aerith's dinner would consist only of plain white rice after all.)


End file.
